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Dartford Grammar School
Geography (2TKP)

QTS full time

Accredited body

Kent and Medway Training

Financial support

Scholarship, bursary or student finance if you’re eligible

Qualification

QTS

QTS (qualified teacher status) allows you to teach in state schools in England.

It may also allow you to teach in the EU, the EEA and Switzerland. You should check with the institution you’d like to teach in for confirmation. The status of QTS in these countries may change after the UK leaves the EU. Please check GOV.UK for updates.

To teach in the rest of the UK or internationally, you may wish to consider a ‘PGCE (or PGDE) with QTS’ qualification instead.

Contents

About the course

The course begins on the first day of INSET training with the rest of the staff, integrating you into the staff body, and will continue until the middle of June. This is so you can begin working in July in those schools that offer an early start. You will also have a six-week placement in a contrasting school to help to broaden your experience.

You will be in schools for at least four days a week where you will be involved in observations, teaching, staff training, parents’ evenings, school meetings, extra-curricular clubs: all the facets of a teacher’s school life. On Thursdays, you will have your pedagogical training with KMT that provides a mixture of specific Subject Studies, looking at aspects of teaching your specialism, and the more general Professional Studies sessions, which have a holistic approach to educational practices. After Easter, you will be in school full time.

You will be supported by a network of established professionals, including a subject mentor in your school, usually a subject specialist, your professional tutor, your KMT lead mentor and course director as well as the other teachers and trainees in your school. You will have a weekly mentor meeting to allow you discuss any issues and organise any support you may need.

To begin the year, you will observe lessons, developing into leading small parts of a lesson or working with small groups, and building until you are teaching 60% of a full timetable. You will be supernumerary, meaning there will always be a qualified teacher in the room with you. You will focus on teaching KS3 and KS4 but may also get the opportunity to teach some KS5. You will be formally observed once a week in order to receive feedback and make progress.

As well as your teaching, you will be working on charting you development and recording your skills through progress trackers, Reflective Professional Journals (RPJs), and collecting evidence to prove you are working towards meeting the Teachers’ Standards. These are spread across the year and you will be supported by your mentor and your lead subject mentor.

In addition, for those wishing to obtain the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) as well as Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), you will be able to top up your qualification by paying an extra fee and completing other assignments throughout the year through distance learning with the University of Leeds Beckett.

Interview process

The interview process varies slightly across the schools in the alliance; however, once you have applied by UCAS, if your application is strong, you are likely to be invited into the school to observe some lessons in your subject and meet some of the teachers.

If interested in pursuing the training placement, you will be interviewed by a representative from Kent and Medway Training, the school's Professional Tutor and a teacher from your chosen subject. This will include you presenting a plan for a lesson which will be defined for you before the interview. You will be asked to talk through your plan so to demonstrate your subject knowledge and ability to turn that into stimulating activities for young people. There will also be other questions to ascertain your resilience and dedication to teaching. At the same time, you will be asked to sit the KMT entrance test.

If all the panel members agree to offering you a training placement, you will be offered a conditional offer. If you are not successful, there may be the possibility that you will be offered a place at one of the other alliance schools if they have availability.

How school placements work

You will have a ‘home’ school which is where you will spend the majority of your training year. Here between September and January, and Easter and June, you will be learning how to teach your subject by slowly building up to teaching full lessons and then building up your number of lessons based on your capability. You will be supported by classroom teacher, your mentor and your Professional Tutor.

You will also have a six-week placement in a contrasting school. For example, from a High School to a Grammar School or a single-sex school to a co-educational school. This will usually take place between February and Easter.

In April and May, you will be finally assessed through both lesson observation and your completed portfolio to ensure that you have met the Teachers’ Standards. The grades are then externally moderated and, if all the elements are completed to a good standard, your Newly-Qualified Teacher (NQT) status is confirmed and celebrated at a local hub-centred Awards Evening.

Fees

The course fees for 2019/2020 are as follows:

Student type

Fees to pay

UK students

£6,950

EU students

£6,950

International students

£6,950

The fee of £6950 is the cost for all trainees leading to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) only. This fee is payable by all non-salaried trainees but payable by the home school for salaried trainees.

For those wishing to 'top up' their qualification to the full Post-Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) a further £1800 will be payable to the University of Leeds Beckett who are our PGCE accredited body. This fee is payable by both salaried and non-salaried trainees.

Financial support

You could be eligible for either:

a scholarship of £28,000

a bursary of £26,000

To qualify for a scholarship you’ll need a degree of 2:1 or above in Geography or a related subject. For a bursary you’ll need a 2:2 or above in any subject.

You can’t claim both a bursary and a scholarship - you can only claim one.

Financial support from the training provider

Requirements

Qualifications

-An Honours degree of 2:2 or better preferably in the Subject specialist area in which you are to train.

-GCSE Maths pass of Grade C/ Level 4 or better.

-GCSE English pass of Grade C/ Level 4 or better.

-Skills Test pass in Numeracy.

-Skills Test pass in Literacy.

-For those with overseas qualifications, we will need to see confirmation from NARIC of your qualifications being the equivalent of UK degree and GCSEs.

Personal qualities

In order to train with us you must be:

passionate about your subject

resilient

independent

dedicated to educating and supporting young people

self-reflective

open to constructive criticism

professional

proactive

a strong communicator

Other requirements

Before the course begins, you will need:

at least 10 experience days in a secondary school or academy

at least 2 experience days in a primary school or academy

DBS check

Health check declaration

It is useful to attend at least one school experience day before application so that you can get a feel for the chosen school and what it can offer as a training placement.

About the training provider

The North West Kent Teaching School Alliance (NWKTSA) is a vibrant teaching school which works collaboratively to enable schools in the community to make improvements in the quality of teaching, leadership and pupil attainment. In the Dartford area and beyond, we provide Initial Teacher Training, School-to-School Support and Continued Professional Development.

The alliance has been working in partnership with Kent and Medway Training (KMT) for many years to ensure that we meet the needs of schools in our community. We provide excellent-quality teacher training to ensure our pupils are taught by the best educators. This partnership has helped to nurture huge numbers of successful teachers, many of whom are now progressing into school management.

The alliance covers four secondary schools, eleven primary schools and is growing. This variety of settings provides our trainees with opportunities to work in different educational environments. With KMT, you have a Home school where you will be working for most of the year; however, you are also provided with a contrasting placement to allow you to widen your experience and develop your teaching skills in a variety of school contexts.

At the NWKTSA, we welcome candidates from a variety of backgrounds who are dedicated people and wish to become inspirational classroom teachers. The training is delivered by a team of experienced practitioners. There are several layers of support available within KMT and schools. The combination of high quality support and training justifies the excellent success rates in both passing the course and gaining employment.

Training with disabilities and other needs

As an inclusive teaching school, we welcome candidates with disabilities and other additional needs. If you are keen to teach, we will find a way to ensure that your requirements can be accommodated.

Support and advice

Get support and advice about teaching

Register with Get into Teaching, the Department for Education’s free support and advice service, for personalised guidance from teaching experts. They can help you to prepare your application, book school experience, and access exclusive teaching events. You can also call them free on 0800 389 2500, or speak to an adviser using their online chat service, from 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday.

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